Resolutions and Rules for 2014

January 1, 2014

All ritual and routine of New Year’s Day aside, I ran across a few notes I jotted down sometime last year. They were the “5 Rules of File Conversion.” I don’t remember who wrote the original information – it might have been Joel Friedlander, but I’m not sure, so if the author of same happens to read this, let me know, and I will certainly post the information and a link to the full article.

Anyway, it dawns on me that these 5 Rules apply to Life in General:

1. Garbage in, garbage out. How true, how true! If we ingest anything bad for us, whether food or information, it always comes back to haunt us. Bad food impairs our health, turns into fat or artery-choking plaque, or escapes as noisome by-products (TMI). Bad intel poisons our minds, and we regurgitate it to everyone we meet. Humiliation usually follows both of these behaviors.

2. Establish business rules. This is having guidelines for daily living: setting routines, schedules, and all other such mundane actions that help regulate sanity and enable us to handle the daily grind.

3. Know your content. Okay, so how well do you know yourself and your life? Really? Take stock of yourself and make sure you are, as Thoreau put it, living authentically. Don’t try to pass yourself off as something you’re not, and, as per Rule No. 1, don’t pass along garbage.

4. Have a plan. Goals are wonderful things, but how are you going to achieve them? Make yourself a realistic road map. The way-points are the small goals, the ones you know for certain you can reach, with the huge astronomical goal at the end. It will take a while to reach that one, so you need rest stops along the way.

5. Be consistent. Apply all those other rules and review them regularly. Life is full of change and you may need to bend/tweak some of the rules as your goals evolve. Don’t throw your rules out. They keep you on track, but be prepared for detours.

One other tidbit of wisdom was attached to this note: Never assume someone understands your thoughts. Amen. I’d be willing to bet that 95% or better of people problems are the result of us not being able to read each other’s minds. So, unless you have that gift, please don’t assume squat. It doesn’t work.

Somewhere in Montana.

Happy New Year!

[P.S. If an ad shows up, I apologize. It’s WordPress keeping my blog free for me to use for now!]